§1008 Payment of costs of telecommunications carriers to comply with capability requirements

Summary

The Attorney General can pay phone and telecom companies for reasonable costs they had to spend to change equipment, facilities, or services that were put in place on or before January 1, 1995, but only if funds are available from Congress. The Attorney General will decide how to use any money for these payments based on law-enforcement priorities. If a company asked for payment under the required procedures and the Attorney General has not agreed to pay for needed changes to pre‑1995 gear, that gear will be treated as meeting the required capabilities until it is replaced, heavily upgraded, or otherwise majorly changed. The Federal Communications Commission must decide, within 1 year after someone asks, whether meeting the required assistance capabilities is reasonably achievable for equipment, facilities, or services put in place after January 1, 1995. In making that decision, the Commission must look at things like public safety and national security, effects on phone rates, privacy, costs and operations, encouragement of new technology, the carrier’s finances, competition, whether the item was designed before January 1, 1995, and other appropriate factors. If the Commission finds compliance is not reasonably achievable, the Attorney General may, on a carrier’s request and if funds are available, pay the extra reasonable costs to make compliance possible; if the Attorney General does not pay, the carrier will be treated as complying. The Attorney General must make rules, after notice and comment and after talking with the Commission, to allow timely, cost‑effective payments (including recovery of development, training, and installation costs not paid by others), to limit recovery to only the extra cost when a change has non‑law‑enforcement uses, and to protect trade secrets. Carriers who get agreement to be paid must file claims with the information the Attorney General requires.